Recent content by alex

Highgate West Hill!! Pedelecs Commuter has mentioned Highgate West Hill, my body went into an involuntary shudder just reading that name. Over 30 years ago I had to rouse myself at the crack of dawn & cycle from Tufnell Park to Highgate Village every morning to start a newspaper delivery...

Thanks Thanks for those suggestions. I have checked the controller to hub cable, in fact I managed to destroy the soldered cable to pin connection thinking it might be loose (I had to buy a new cable). Tried a newly charged battery. Cannot see a way to open the controller to check for water...

Thanks Thanks for those suggestions. I have checked the controller to hub cable, in fact I managed to destroy the soldered cable to pin connection thinking it might be loose (I had to buy a new cable). Tried a newly charged battery. Cannot see a way to open the controller to check for water...

My bike powered by a Sram Sparc electric drive system has developed a minor fault. The handlebar mounted switch which turns the system on / off & selects mode has some indicator lights, a red one which shows when 'speed' mode has been selected & three green ones showing battery level. The...

carrera Hi. I bought a Carrera Sparc in October & have been very happy with it. It gives gentle assistance & takes the sweat out of riding around Edinburgh. I get about 14 miles per charge, if I run out of power the bike is easy to ride unassisted. Replacement batteries, cables, etc.. are...

Hi Joe. I am very pleased with my Carrera, range is generally 14 miles on speed setting with light pedalling in hilly terrain. Economy setting & greater effort on my part would no doubt improve this but I find the range adequate for riding around Edinburgh & I have a second battery for those...

Do I have a ladies' bike? When I bought my electric Carrera from Halfords in October it did not occur to me that it was a ladies' bike. True it is quite a small frame (17") but I thought the sloping top tube accounted for that & what I have is a fairly standard mountain bike style frame. I...

Halfords sold me an electric bike. Concerns about dealing with a distant seller should I need repairs / spares were a major reason for me deciding to buy a Carrera Sparc powered by the Sram system from Halfords. Fortunately I have not had any problems, but am reassured that a local seller is on...

Scare stories cause fall. Hi. I have learned alot from the postings here regarding battery charging. The possibility of fires starting from recharging appliances indirectly caused a nasty accident; before Christmas my aged father awoke in the night & thought he heard a noise downstairs, he had...

Hi. Branwen & all. I have met you Branwen & you are not a fatty, just the fact that you cycle puts you way ahead of the real 'lard-asses' in terms of fitness & mobility.It is admirable that anyone with health difficulties such as those you have spoken of can keep fitness levels as high as...

Insurance I recently did alot of shopping around for house & contents insurance after my old insurer upped their renewal premium by a huge amount for no good reason, they had asked 40 pounds to cover my 750 pound electric bike. Many of the other companies who quoted had a limit of 500 pounds on...

insulation People considering knitting teacosies for their batteries or sewing wee covers might investigate some of the modern materials used to insulate buildings. There is a robust polythene material like bubble wrap which includes a metalic reflective layer. Another product has numerous...

Sunrunner I was seriously considering buying one of the Sunrunner cycles (the gents 28" wheel one) though never managed to organize a test ride & eventually decided I needed more gears than the 3 speed Sunrunner so plumped for the Carerra Sparc from Halfords. I was attracted to the Sunrunner by...

Reduced range. Interesting to hear your Sram Sparc experiences Rooel. I certainly look forward to the 18.5V Lithium boost when the NiMh batteries have expired, for now I do not feel particularly dissatisfied I just noticed a big reduction in the miles I was covering on one charge & feel this...

Thanks Rooel. I feel familiar with the Sparc innards thanks to previous threads (remember Krauterbuter?), but hope I will not need to go there, well perhaps a peek inside when I have the wheel off. All seems to be running well today after swapping to a fully charged battery, I will watch that...